Heat Beat Clippers 104-90 To End 3-Game Road Skid
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Chris Bosh scored 34 points, Hassan Whiteside had career highs of 23 points and 16 rebounds off the bench and the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Clippers 104-90 on Sunday to end a three-game road skid.
Dwyane Wade added 17 points on 5-of-15 shooting and had 10 assists.
The Clippers had no answer for the 7-foot Whiteside in his third year out of Marshall. His offensive display ran the gamut from tip-ins to dunks to jumpers. About the only thing Whiteside didn't do was try a 3-pointer. He was 10 of 13 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line in 28 minutes.
Blake Griffin scored 26 points and Chris Paul had 23 points and nine assists for the Clippers. They had won two straight and six of their previous eight.
Paul, Matt Barnes, DeAndre Jordan and Jamal Crawford were whistled for technical fouls and the team spent much of the game barking at the referees.
The Clippers, who had won five of six before Sunday, took a 19-6 lead, helped by 3-pointers from J.J. Redick, who finished with 14 points, and two by Paul. From there, it was all Miami, who came to Staples Center having lost five of six.
Whiteside replaced Chris Andersen halfway through the first and propelled the Heat on a 24-10 spurt, including 13 in a row when Jordan and Paul earned technicals, to give Miami a 30-29 lead. Whiteside was 5 of 6 from the floor and had six rebounds in 6 minutes in the quarter.
Miami ran off the first eight points of the second quarter, extending its lead to 38-29. A pair of free throws by Andersen completed a 25-point swing for the Heat, having gone from 13 down in the first to up 12 in the second.
The Clippers got no closer than six before the Heat scored six straight to lead by 12 again before Redick's 3-pointer left Los Angeles trailing 62-53 at the break. Led by Whiteside's 10 rebounds, Miami owned a 25-11 edge on the boards, including 16-8 on the defensive glass.
The Heat stretched its lead to 15 — largest of the game — in the third during a 9-0 run in which Whiteside hit a turnaround hook from 11 feet. On the defensive end, he blocked Griffin. Whiteside played most of the fourth, when he earned his fifth foul.
The Clippers got within seven with 2 minutes left only to watch Bosh hit a 3-pointer and keep the Heat ahead 100-90 as Miami fans chanted, "Let's go Heat!" The Heat controlled the boards, 46-27.
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